Legislative Updates

Report from the Legislature

October 5, 2017

Report from the LegislatureOctober 5, 2017TransCanada has cancelled its application to build the Energy East pipeline.Energy East would have created thousands of jobs, contributed billions of dollars in tax revenue andboosted Canada's economy by around $55 billion – all from exclusively private sector investment.The federal government is blaming "business decisions" for the termination of Energy East. In reality,they have failed to champion this project and see it through for the benefit of all Canadians.It is clear that the Trudeau government's energy policies, including their NDP-inspired carbon tax plan,are to blame for the death of the Energy East pipeline and Canada's energy independence.The following is a statement from Premier Brad Wall:Today is not a good day for Canada. It is not a good day for the federation. It is a very bad day forthe west.TransCanada made the decision to cancel Energy East – but make no mistake, the reasons for it fall atthe feet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government. They have been, at best,ambivalent about the project and then moved the goalposts at the last moment by asking theregulator to consider the impact of upstream greenhouse gas emissions.Imagine if something like this was considered prior to the construction of auto assembly plants inOntario or the factories that manufacture heavily subsidized jets in Quebec or the highways and railsthat transport those products.Former federal Liberal Cabinet Minister, and now Montreal Mayor, Denis Coderre cheers thecancellation of this pipeline. He who leads a city that, just two years ago, used a pipeline to dump 4.9BILLION litres, or nearly 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, of raw sewage into the St. LawrenceSeaway.It is a good thing that Mr. Coderre's hypocrisy needs no pipeline for conveyance, for it would need tobe very large and could never get approved for construction.When Coderre cheers for the end of this pipeline, he cheers for the imported oil we buy from SaudiArabia, where women can now drive, but the public beheadings continue.He is cheering against an energy sector in our country that employs thousands and has paid, onaverage, over the last three years $17 billion annually in taxes and royalties to Canadiangovernments.$17 billion is enough to pay for 680 new schools, 1.8 million knee replacements and 4.25 million childcare spaces. We have lost an opportunity to strengthen quality of life in Canada.Beyond the immediate impact, there are other reasons to be concerned.A new Liberal carbon tax, new Liberal tax changes for small business (that will hurt many in theenergy sector and farmers), changes to the NEB applied only to this sector and not to others, andmethane regulations that will not be mirrored south of the border, with whom we must compete forjob creating investment dollars.We have a company that committed more than a billion dollars to a project and made earnest effortsto address the concerns of the public and regulators. A company that made 700 changes to its plansas part of that response. Make no mistake, other companies' decisions to invest in Canada will beinformed by this debacle.

The expectation of course from the federal government, and some powerful central Canadianinterests, is that the west will just grin and bear this latest blow to our economy and our people.That our taxpayers in Saskatchewan and Alberta will continue to send, without question, about $2.5billion in equalization payments to help support Quebec that receives $11 billion in equalization peryear and $1.4 billion to Ontario. All of this despite the fact that low energy prices have resulted in joblosses and lower revenues for the last four years.Something needs to change. For the west to continue on like this in our federal system is theequivalent of having Stockholm syndrome.The decision by TransCanada to cancel the Energy East project was made because of a lack of interestand leadership – or worse, intentional decisions and policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and hisgovernment. He should answer for this. He needs to be held accountable for this.His actions and his government's actions may well have some westerners wondering if this countryreally values western Canada, the resources we have, and the things we do to contribute to thenational economy and to quality of life for all.